Darmok B4 Tanagra
by James Picard
Summary: A Tamarian survivor is rescued in deep space and Picard is recalled from leave to help find out what happened to him. He and Captain Riker of the Titan are soon enroute to the Tamarian homeworld to find out who is attacking.
1. Chapter 1

Darmok B-4 Tanagra.

Chapter 1.

Captain Sarah Monroe stared intently at a small white object barely discernible against the background starfield on her viewscreen. "Maximum magnification. Helm slow to impulse. Lieutenant Ford: Analysis."

Ford studied the readouts at his science station and cleared his throat. "Small vessel of unknown configuration Captain. No weapons systems detected; sub light propulsion; roughly thirty cubic meters. Signs of blast damage on the hull."

Monroe considered the magnified image. The design was plain, purely functional, resembling a white brick wandering slowly through open space. "Life signs?"

"One sir."

"Hailing frequencies."

"Open, sir."

Although there was no visual communication she rose from her captain's chair as if standing before a first-contact delegation. "This is Captain Monroe of the USS _Monitor_ representing the United Federation of Planets. Are you in need of assistance?"

Silence. The white object continued to slip slowly across the bridge viewscreen. Monroe turned to her tactical officer. "Is there any reason to think they are not receiving our hail, Mr. Bennett?"

The stocky Lieutenant Commander scanned his instrument panel. "None Captain. Perhaps they don't have communication equipment?"

Monroe turned her attention back to the screen. "I can't imagine that a race capable of space travel, however slow, can't say 'hello' to us. Send the standard hail on all channels."

"Aye Captain."

The bridge crew watched the screen in silence as the greeting was transmitted. Still no reply came back. Monroe tapped the pads of each finger against her thumb impatiently. "They have hull damage - com systems could be down and they may be injured. Mr Ford: Have Doctor Piper meet you in the transporter room for an away mission. Standard equipment." She raised a finger in caution. "Be – careful," she said slowly and emphatically. "We will keep a transporter lock on..."

The open com channel suddenly crackled to life. " Rai and Jiri at Lungha," intoned a weak voice. "Rai of Lowani. Lowani under two moons." There was a sound that resembled coughing. "Jiri of Ubaya. Ubaya of crossed roads. At Lungha. Lungha. Her sky grey."

Monroe swiped her fingers across her throat and Bennett immediately muted the channel. "Anyone have a clue of what they are talking about?" She looked around the bridge at the blank stares and shaking heads. An amused smile crossed her face as she motioned for the channel to be opened again. The other ship was now clearly eager to talk.

"...of crossed roads. At Lungha. Lungha. Her sky grey."

There was more of the coughing sound, louder and more wrenching. "Kattla before the court of Tanga," he wheezed apologetically. "Konara when Vula found him. Darmok on the ocean. Kattla, Kattla..."

Monroe pushed some of her red hair behind one ear. "This is the Captain of the USS _Monitor_. You seem to be in some distress. We can guide your ship into our shuttle bay and have our doctor examine you. May we bring you aboard to help you?"

More coughing. "Kadir beneath Mo Moteh" he said weakly, almost to himself. "Shaka."

There was a prolonged silence. Monroe looked to her tactical officer, who nodded silent confirmation that the channel was still open. Raising her eyebrows in exasperation she tried again.

"We represent the United Federation of Planets. Can we be of assistance?"

Ford was now working frantically at his science station. "Captain, I think I might know what this language is..."

The laboured breath on the communication channel checked for a moment. "Fed? Fed-er-ation?" More coughing was followed by a groan and a moment of silence.

"Sokath. His eyes uncovered." Even through the obvious suffering there was an element of triumph in the voice.

"Federation. Picard and Dathan at El Adrel." The weak voice was becoming animated.

"Picard of the Federation!"

Jean-Luc Picard's first sensation was of warmth. A pleasantly warm blanket shielding him from the cool air of the room. Though his eyes did not want to open, he was aware of a gentle morning light that gradually intensified as the minutes passed, and he breathed in the scent of flowers and crops from just beyond the window. But overriding it all was the warmth of the blanket, and of the sleeping body next to him.

He rolled to his left and pulled some of the light brunette hair back from her neck so he could gently kiss the smooth skin. He stroked his fingers across he naked shoulder. "Anij?"

She turned toward him and smiled sleepily. "You're awake early. Eager to start the second week of your leave, Captain? Or are you anxious to get back to your ship and see how the repairs are going?"

He laughed quietly. "Eager to start another day with you. It must be this metaphasic radiation of yours. Every morning I feel a little more youthful. If this keeps up you will soon be cavorting with a young man. People might talk!'

Anij brushed her hand down his cheek. "I'm Bak'u – I already _am_ cavorting with a younger man. A three hundred years younger man in fact."

"Well – I know the unique environment here in the Briar Patch gives you perfect health and nearly unlimited lifespans, but I have trouble thinking of myself as a younger man. Perhaps tomorrow!" Jean-Luc chuckled again. "Are you hungry? I certainly am!"

Breakfast was a simple, satisfying meal of bread and native fruits, followed with a herb tea concoction that approximated Jean-Luc's beloved Earl Grey. Following the pattern of each morning since his arrival, Anij slipped her arm into his and they strolled through the Bak'u village, past the neatly cultivated fields and into the pleasant countryside.

"I find I can't get over this place," said Jean-Luc. "If I could have designed my own paradise, I couldn't have done any better." He considered for a moment. "Perhaps an archaeological ruin or two, otherwise - it's perfection."

Anij gave his arm a little squeeze. "I think I can help you with that. When we left the technology of our homeworld behind to come here, we scanned the planet carefully. There was no sign of advanced life, but we did find evidence of a long-dead civilization. We mapped mounds, causeways, mostly earth and wooden construction but there are a few stone ruins. We don't know who they were or what happened to them. You like mysteries, there's one for you. You could spend a lifetime digging to your heart's content. But you would have to do it the old fashioned way, with a shovel and a trowel."

"Oh dear," he said in mock consternation. "No ground penetrating sensor mapping? No stratigraphic soil transporters? I'm not sure I can conduct a proper excavation under such primitive conditions." The forced frown gave way to a wide smile. "Sounds delightful. Torturing you knees by kneeling on hard ground by the hour, painstakingly scraping away layers of history with nothing more than a hand trowel and recording the site with a pencil on paper? That's real archaeology – getting your hands dirty! Did you keep any records of the surveys?"

"It was all part of the computer files that were deleted when we dismantled our ship to build the village. I can show you where the nearest sites are are but we don't have much in the way of records from the early days anymore." She motioned up toward the lush green hills they were approaching. "Do you recognize this place?"

It did not take long for the memories of what nearly happened here to come flooding back. The mission to Romulus, the battle with Shinzon, and even the loss of Data aboard Shinzon's ship _Scimitar_ could not erase the recollection of a Starfleet admiral's plan for the forced relocation of the Bak'u from their home planet.

"Oh yes. Yes I know this place. This is where the first wave of Son'a drones attacked us as after we left the village. How many were hit with isolinear tags and beamed to the Son'a ship here? A dozen? More?"

Anij's eyes narrowed as she looked about her. "Something like that. If you and your crew had not fought to protect us we all would have been taken, right here."

Picard surveyed the ground with the eye of an archaeologist, and soon found what he was looking for. He pulled back the branches of a nearby bush and picked up a twisted piece of metal with some dangling circuitry attached. "One of the drones we destroyed." He looked up to a cave entrance. "But this wasn't the worst of it, not for me. I nearly lost you when that cave collapsed." He tossed the drone wreckage back under the bush. "I don't know how I would have borne that."

"Nearly lost me, but you didn't." She took his arm again and kissed his face. "And you managed to destroy the metaphasic collector that would have made our planet uninhabitable for generations. Who knows where we would be now if your android, Data, had not started running amok that day?"

"If Admiral Dougherty had had his way, you would all be on some planet many light years from here. Starfleet is fortunately made of better stuff than the late admiral. But all this reminds me of something else, how successful have the Son'a been re-integrating into Bak'u life?"

"Only a few have attempted it so far. If you like I will take you to see Gallatin tomorrow. He was able to reconcile with his mother and has built a home close to hers. Others have tried to close the gap only to find it too difficult, and gone off-world again. It was just too hard for them to live amongst the people they were trying to force off of their own world, especially since it was their own families."

Jean-Luc nodded thoughtfully. "I would like to see Gallatin. I have much to thank him for. His betrayal of Ru'afo was instrumental in the whole operation. A terrible situation. Terrible. But," he said, brightening, "I have another three weeks of leave left to me and I do not wish to spend them moping over the past. Now suppose you show me those ruins..."

As they approached the Bak'u village Jean-Luc was still turning over the pottery sherds he had collected at the ruin and talking at length about the corded decoration on the one piece and comparing it to the banding on another, and how they reminded him of ceramics at the 23rd dynasty site on Beta Canis Five, and all the while Anij was hearing less as a growing feeling of foreboding blocked out everything else. Something in the village was wrong, but Jean-Luc was so animated about his finds she couldn't bring herself to break the spell. Maybe it was nothing.

Jean-Luc's ongoing discourse on archaeology was suddenly cut short and he stopped dead in his tracks. "Oh no..."

Anij followed his gaze. There was a tall, dark haired man standing on the long bridge over the village pond. He was leaning on the railing, taking in the beauty of the surrounding countryside. Despite the idyllic scene, the man gave a distinct impression of being ill at ease: a man bringing bad news.

"Will Riker," breathed Picard. "What the hell is he doing here?"

Ever alert, William Riker noticed their approach and waved heartily at the sight of his former commanding officer. Anij's arm tucked into the Jean-Luc's made him smile. It was good to see this side of the normally private and reserved Captain. Picard had never looked so relaxed.

"Hello Captain – Anij," he said, nodding briefly to the woman who obviously was becoming an important part of jean-Luc's life. "It's good to see you again sir. Shore leave seems to be agreeing with you."

"Will! It's good to see you too," replied Jean-Luc, extending his hand. "You remember Anij, of course. I must say, Will, I'm a little surprised to see you."

"Yes Captain. I..." but Jean-Luc was holding up a hand to silence him.

"Will, you are captain of the _Titan_ now. I'm the captain of the _Enterprise_. We can go on first name basis with no breach of protocol, captain to captain. Besides – look around you. Protocol doesn't mean much in a place like this."

"That might take some getting used to," and he stumbled as he nearly ended the sentence with "sir" again. "I'm afraid I've been sent by Starfleet to fetch you."

Picard sighed. "And here I was thinking that the effects of the Briar Patch on subspace communications would keep me out of reach for a while. I haven't taken leave in a long time, this had better be good, Will."

"I wish I could tell you one way or the other. I received priority orders from Admiral Janeway diverting _Titan _to the Briar Patch so we could fetch you to meet with her on Deep Space 5. The Admiral sends her regrets and promises all will be explained on our arrival."

"That's it? That's all the explanation I'm going to get for being pulled from the first extended leave I've had in years?"

"I'm sorry sir. The only other thing she said was that you were the only man for the job."

Picard looked down at the ground between them for a moment, then up into the eyes of Anij, who had been silent all this time. He gently patted the soft hand that rested in the crook of his elbow. "You know, Will, I have always had the greatest respect for Admiral Janeway, but I'm getting rather tired of being the 'only man for the job.'"

As he packed to leave back in Anij's house, frustration was turning into anger.

"I will only take a few essentials. I'm leaving most of my things here with you. _Damn_ it! Can I not take a few weeks leave after all these years?"

Anij came up behind him, put her hands around his chest and rested her head on his shoulder. "Do you remember that story you told me last week about bringing that other captain back from a place called the Nexus? You talked him into leaving his own paradise for the good of people he had never met. I imagine he felt very much as you do now."

Picard stiffened, overwhelmed both my the memory of that time and by the wisdom of this woman he was clearly falling in love with.

James T. Kirk! Picard had talked him into leaving his own sanctuary and love to help fight a madman intent on destroying an entire star system. Kirk had died for that mission. _Did we make a difference? _he had said, just before he passed into history on that bleak outcrop of rock.

James Kirk – Captain of the Enterprise.

Jean-Luc Picard...

He took her hands from his chest and tenderly kissed each one. Turning, his hands encircled her waist and he pulled her close. "I can hardly argue with insight like that. You are truly remarkable." He kissed her lips, trying to think of a way to make this easier.

"You know, he quipped, "this would be an excellent time for that trick of yours of making time slow down."

She kissed him back. "I'll do that - when you return."


	2. Chapter 2

Darmok B-4 Tanagra.

Chapter 2.

The voyage to Deep Space had been pleasant enough for Picard. It was good to catch up with Will and Deanna again. He had toured the _Titan_ and found her to be a fine ship with a well trained crew – he would expect nothing less with Will Riker in command. He met the senior staff, sampled some Romulan dishes recently added to the replicators list of cuisine choices. He was even the guest of honour at a formal officer's mess dinner. With no mission briefings to study he had time to read, which he preferred to do in the arboretum. After the serenity and simple life of the Bak'u village he found comfort in the proximity of growing plants. They reminded him of the vegetable gardens and hay fields he had left behind.

But with every hour that passed, he felt the distance between himself and Anij widen. It was something he had tried not to dwell upon, but there was an aching deep within him that he had never felt on leaving Earth, and he quietly resented every light year that was left in the _Titan's_ wake.

So despite the ever-professional exterior, it was with mixed emotions that Picard, with Will Riker at his side, entered the admin office of DS5 for the first mission meeting with Admiral Kathryn Janeway.

Janeway rose from the desk of the base commander which for the time being was hers as a courtesy to her rank. "Jean-Luc," she said warmly, extending her hand. "It's wonderful to see you again. And you must be Captain Riker. Congratulations on the _Titan_, Captain!"

"Thank you ma'am," replied Will in a very official tone.

"Something from the replicator before we begin, gentlemen? I'm already on my third coffee."

Will politely declined, but Jean-Luc ordered his usual tea, Earl Grey, hot. He sipped it and noticed the difference from the Bak'u herbal tea, wondering for a moment which he preferred.

Janeway handed them each a data padd. "I'm sure you are curious to know why I recalled you from your leave, Jean-Luc, so I'll come straight to the point. Five days ago the USS _Monitor_ intercepted what turned out to be a damaged escape pod. It was built for a dozen or so occupants but only one humanoid was aboard. I want you to listen to the recording of the first transmissions from the occupant." She pressed a control on the touch screen set into the desk.

_Rai and Jiri at Lungha, Rai of Lowani. Lowani under two moons. Jiri of Ubaya. Ubaya of crossed roads. At Lungha. Lungha. Her sky grey._

Picard and Riker exchanged surprised looks at the first few words. "Tamarians," said Picard. "That's their first-contact greeting."

"Now do you see why we wanted you, Jean-Luc? You were the first to break the code, to get an insight into the culture of the Children of Tama and their metaphor based language. Thanks to your encounter with their Captain Dathan at El Adrel we had a reference to begin a dialogue with the Tamarian survivor. Oh yes – he was the survivor of an attack. More about that in a minute."

Picard's mind was cast back to the _Enterprise's_ encounter with the Tamarians at El Adrel. They had beamed Picard and their own Captain Dathan to the surface of that planet to reenact an incident from their mythology. The story of Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra told of two travellers who arrived separately at the island of Tanagra, where they became friends while cooperating to overcome "the beast of Tanagra". To the Tamarians, it was enough to say "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" to convey the central concept. Dathan, trying to foster cooperation with the Federation, had died battling a creature on El Adrel, but his sacrifice had helped Picard understand a small part of the Tamarian language and culture. "Picard and Dathan at El Adrel" was now a new part of the Tamarian mytho-historical canon. Picard still held a strong empathy for the Children of Tama.

Janeway was continuing with the briefing. "With so little of the language known to us, it took a long time to determine what happened. The escape pod carried no records that were of any help, and while the Tamarian tried, he was unable to help us much in the beginning. It took a while just to find out his name was Tannae.

"I was directed by Starfleet to take over the investigation, and it was immediately obvious that we needed a fast track to understanding their language so I brought in a Vulcan of my acquaintance to mind meld with Tannae."

Riker broke his silence. "Lieutenant Commander Tuvok?"

"You're familiar with the crew of _Voyager_? Very good Captain, except that Tuvok holds a full Commander rank now. The mind melds helped but they were deeply distressing to Tannae."

"That's not really surprising Admiral," said Picard. "The Tamarians have a very limited sense of self and see themselves as part of the community first and foremost. Certainly nothing on the order of the Borg Collective, but the individual is very much subservient to the society, and dedicated to honouring the historical figures that inform their language, their culture and their approach to life. To have a strong individual mind enter theirs to probe for information would be beyond anything they could imagine, even with their superior ability for abstraction. I know from personal experience that a mind meld can be jarring for anyone. I can only imagine the effect on a Tamarian mind."

Riker nodded in agreement. "What have we been able to learn so far, Admiral?"

"We have Tuvok and a linguistics specialist, Lieutenant Karen Hastings, working with Tannae. The story so far is that his ship was attacked by an unknown adversary, several ships. We think they were cloaked ships, because he refers to them as 'the beast of El Adrel' which your reports, Jean-Luc, describe as becoming visible only in attack."

Riker leaned forward. "You said the pod was damaged. Were you able to determine a weapons signature on the hull?" He looked directly at Picard. "It would help if we knew who we're dealing with."

"The damage was from the blast of the Tamarian vessel exploding as the pod cleared its docking port so we have nothing conclusive. Romulans, Klingons, who knows? Maybe someone else with cloaking technology that we haven't encountered before. We have made enquiries with both governments. The Klingons say they are investigating, but don't seem terribly interested. As for the Romulans, they are in such chaos following the Shinzon coup that it's harder than usual to get a straight answer out of them. Starfleet has no consensus. Half think it's a renegade Romulan commander, the other half think it might be the Klingons looking to expand the empire again. Tannae isn't a bridge officer – he didn't get a visual on the ship to be able to describe it for us."

"So Admiral," Picard interjected, "what role are we to play in all of this? I can understand that you might want me to work with this Tannae, but you surely didn't divert the _Titan_ just to give me a lift here."

Janeway was at the replicator, ordering another coffee. She sipped it and grimaced slightly. "Never as good as the real thing."

"You're right, the Titan is more than a convenient shuttle, no offence intended, Will. Starfleet and the Federation Council see this as an opportunity to cement a relationship with the Children of Tama. We want you, Jean-Luc, to head up a small task force. I'm sending three ships to the Tamarian homeworld. You will take Tuvok, Lieutenant Hastings and Tannae with you on the _Enterprise_. Continue to work toward expanding our understanding of their language and the attack en route. _Titan_ will accompany you, and this ship will tag along as well." She pressed another control and a design hologram sprang up above the desk between them.

Janeway smiled at their reaction. "Odd looking beast, isn't she? USS _Seeker_, prototype of the new _Loki_ class starship. Best described as an _Intrepid _class starship - and you know I have a personal affection for _Intrepids_, _Voyager_ in particular – with the bulbous belly of an old style _Excelsior_ class tacked on below. She's already being called "The Pregnant _Intrepid_", and with good reason. But as ungainly as she looks, she is based on the same bio-neural gel-pack technology that we had on _Voyager_, so she may not be sleek to look at, but she's fast and manoeuvrable. That ballooning hull houses a deflector dish bigger than the _Enterprise's _and emitters capable of creating a wide dispersal tachyon field. She's designed to detect a cloaked ship within a two light year sphere of space."

"First I've heard of this ship," said Riker. Is she fully operational?"

"The tachyon field has been successfully tested at DS9 in tactical simulation trials with the USS _Defiant_. That cloaking device is based on Romulan technology so we're not certain it will work against a Klingon ship. The Klingons were less than enthusiastic about joining in to the testing, as you can probably imagine. If it _is_ the Klingons attacking the Tamarians you have a 50-50 shot at decloaking them. _Seeker _will be here tomorrow, and _Enterprise_ will arrive in two days time."

"Admiral," said Picard, "the Enterprise is undergoing extensive refit at the Earth shipyards. She's not expected to be spaceworthy for several weeks."

Janeway shut down the hologram schematic and cradled the coffee in her two hands. "Change of plans, Jean-Luc. _Enterprise_ was given top priority and they've been working on her around the clock. She leaves spacedock tomorrow with engineers and dockyard technicians still aboard. They will be working on upgrades all the way here and all the way to the Tamarian homeworld. You'll be taking advantage of DS5's facilities for the short time she's docked here. It won't be comfortable but you should be in relatively good shape by the time you get where you're going."

Picard sipped his tea and smiled. "Well Admiral, you certainly are full of surprises today, aren't you?"

"One more surprise to come, Captain." She tapped a button on the desk. "Ensign, you can come in now."

The door to an ante-room opened, and a starfleet officer entered. His black hair was swept back in impeccable order, yellow eyes prominent against a pale, waxy complexion. He nodded slightly. "Greetings!"

Picard and Riker both stood slowly, incredulous. "_Data_?"


	3. Chapter 3

Darmok B-4 Tanagra.

Chapter 3.

Picard rubbed a hand over his chin. "Not Data, Number One. B-4." He glanced apologetically at his former first officer for slipping into the familiar form of address.

The android approached the two dumbfounded Captains, smiling briefly to the Admiral. "That would not be entirely correct Captain. While I retain the name our father gave me, the entire content of my brother's neural net were transferred to me on your orders. The memories and essence of Data are very much alive within me, as are those of his daughter, Lal."

Riker looked from Picard back to the android. "B-4, no offence but the last time we saw you, you weren't functioning at a very high level. What happened?"

"No offence taken, sir. My low level of ability was deliberately programmed into me by Shinzon's technicians. It was felt that a poorly functioning android would not be perceived as a security threat, so that I could be activated to full functionality in order to gather intelligence or even sabotage the _Enterprise_ if necessary. After I had completed a downloaded task the higher abilities would shut down again and I would revert to the low level state you were familiar with."

"We've had him in the Robotics section of the Daystrom Institute since you returned to Earth. Once they were able to isolate Shinzon's subroutine it didn't take long for Data's memories and knowledge to reassert themselves."

"That is correct. In fact, my brother's stored information assisted in the re-sequencing of my neural net and the building of seven hundred and forty three new neural pathways. While I retain no memory of my creation, or any event in my life prior to Shinzon's men scattering me about Kolarus 3 where you found me, it would appear that I was very close in design to the sophistication of Data."

"You must have been one of the final prototypes before Data and Lore. It sure would be interesting to know how Shinzon got his hands on you," said Riker.

"Indeed it would Captain, but I suspect that is a mystery of my past we may never solve."

Janeway rose from her chair. The meeting was drawing to an end. "I think I've dropped enough bombs on you for one morning, gentlemen, but there is one more. A small one, by comparison. The Daystrom techs feel it would be beneficial for B-4 to experience surroundings familiar to Data to allow the neural connections to firm up. You have the final say over your ship's complement of course, Jean-Luc, but I'd like to assign B-4 to the _Enterprise_. I understand he has the potential to be one hell of a good helmsman!"


End file.
